Apparatus for cleaning a rubbing cloth

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for cleaning a rubbing cloth disposed on an alignment roller includes: a first support member to be disposed parallel to the alignment roller; a second support member to be disposed parallel to the alignment roller and spaced apart from the first support member at a predetermined distance; and a cleaning cloth disposed on and extending between the first and second support members. The cleaning cloth cleans the rubbing cloth by rubbing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a cleaning apparatus, more particularly to acleaning apparatus for removing dirt from a rubbing cloth by rubbing acleaning cloth against the rubbing cloth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An alignment layer is disposed on a glass substrate of an LCD panel. Thealignment layer is generally made of polyamide material. Duringmanufacturing of the LCD device, rubbing operation is conducted so as toform several parallel grooves on the alignment layer to align the liquidcrystal molecules in the same direction.

Referring to FIG. 1, a rubbing cloth 10 is wrapped around an alignmentroller 11 by means of two-sided adhesive tape. The rubbing cloth 10 rubsagainst the alignment layer disposed on the glass substrate 12 uponrotation of the roller 11. After the rubbing operation, the alignmentlayer is formed with a plurality of parallel alignment grooves 122 thatenable the molecules 121 in the alignment layer to be aligned with thealignment grooves 122. Once contaminated due to rubbing, the rubbingcloth 10 is required to be cleaned up, then the alignment layer 10 iseligible for conducting the rubbing operation again. In case, the dirton the rubbing cloth 10 is not removed thoroughly and when the rubbingoperation is conducted by using the contaminated rubbing cloth 10, theparallel alignment grooves in the alignment layer may surfer from unevendepth distribution after the rubbing operation, which, in turn, mayaffect the pre-tilt angle of the crystal molecules in the alignmentlayer.

Referring to FIG. 2, in order to thoroughly remove the dirt 14 on therubbing cloth 10, a blank glass substrate is passed through the roller11 in such a manner to rub against the rubbing cloth 10 so as to suck upthe dirt 14, thereby cleaning the rubbing cloth 10.

Some disadvantages resulting from the use of the aforesaid roller 11 areas follows:

-   -   (i) Replacing a new rubbing cloth 10 on the roller 11 brings        lots of inconveniences to the user. To discard the contaminated        rubbing cloth 10 may result in extra expense, since the rubbing        cloth is rather expensive;    -   (ii) Little cleaning effect is achieved with the use of the        blank glass substrate. The glass substrate 13 can remove only        some portion of the dirt 14;    -   (iii) The contaminated glass substrate needs to be discarded,        since the glass substrate cannot be recycled, thereby resulting        in environmental pollution and extra manufacture cost; and    -   Cleaning of the rubbing cloth 10 by using the blank glass        substrate 13 may interrupt the manufacturing processes of the        LCD device, since the roller 11 itself is used for rubbing        against the alignment layer in order to form the alignment        grooves thereon

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatusthat is adapted to be mounted in an LCD manufacturing line, that isadapted to remove dirt from a rubbing cloth which is used for rubbing asubstrate of an LCD system and that can eliminate the aforesaiddisadvantages.

An apparatus is provided according to the present invention for cleaninga rubbing cloth disposed on an outer surface of an alignment roller. Theapparatus includes: a first support member disposed parallel to thealignment roller; a second support member disposed parallel to thealignment roller and spaced apart from the first support member at apredetermined distance; and a cleaning cloth disposed on and extendingbetween said first and second support members. The rubbing cloth isconditioned (is cleaned up) by rubbing with the cleaning cloth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Other features and advantages of this invention will become moreapparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments of this invention, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional alignment roller forrubbing an alignment layer used in an LCD system, illustrating how thealignment layer is rubbed by a rubbing cloth wrapped around thealignment roller so as to form a plurality alignment grooves on thealignment layer;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the conventional alignment roller,illustrating how the dirt on the rubbing cloth is removed with the useof a blank glass substrate;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of a cleaning apparatus according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3B and 3C respectively show a side view of the cleaning apparatusaccording to FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 3D and 3E respectively show a side view of the cleaning apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, illustrating how acleaning cloth is retained securely between first and second holdingmembers;

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a modified cleaning apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the present invention which is adapted to be mountedin LCDs manufacturing line; and

FIG. 4B is a side view of the modified cleaning apparatus according toFIG. 4A.

DETAILED DESCCRIPTIONS OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

It should be noted that same reference numerals have been used to denotesimilar elements throughout the specification.

Referring to FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, a cleaning apparatus of the preferredembodiment according to the present invention is shown. The cleaningapparatus mounted in the LCD manufacturing line (not shown) includes analignment roller 11, a first support member 21, a second support member22, a roll of a cleaning cloth 23, first and second fastening members25, 26, first and second nozzles 24 a, 24 b, and first and secondmounting shafts 15A, 15B.

As illustrated, the alignment roller 11 is wrapped by the rubbing cloth10 for rubbing against an alignment layer (not shown) disposed on aglass substrate (not shown) during the manufacturing processes of an LCDsystem. The glass substrate constructs a display panel of an LCD system.The rubbing operation results in formation of a plurality of parallelgrooves in the alignment layer. The rubbing cloth 10 may get dirty or iscontaminated after a long period of rubbing operation. The firstmounting shaft 15A is disposed at the right side of the alignment roller11 at a higher elevation so as to extend parallel with the axis 111 ofthe roller 11. The second mounting shaft 15B is disposed at the rightside of the roller 11 at a lower elevation so as to extend parallel withthe axis 111 of the roller 11. The first and the second support members21, 22 are respectively fixed on the first and second mounting shafts15A, 15B. Each of the first and the second support members 21, 22generally has a cylinder shape. Alternately, the first and secondsupport members 21, 22 can be rollers.

The cleaning cloth 23 has two opposite distal ends 231 respectivelyfixed to the first and the second support members 21, 22 so that a clothsection 232 extends between the distal ends 231. The first and thesecond nozzles 24 a, 24 b are respectively disposed at upper and lowersides of the roller 11 adjacent to the cloth section 232 of the cleaningcloth 23. When it is desired to condition (or remove) the dirt 14 fromthe rubbing cloth 10, the first and the second support members 21, 22are respectively turned in clockwise and anticlockwise directions with atorque T_(A)(T_(B)) (see FIG. 3C), and are retained stationarily thereat(see FIG. 3B). At this condition, the cloth section 232 of the cleaningcloth 23 is held between the first and second support members 21, 22under tension force F_(a)(F_(b)) and slidably contacts with the rubbingcloth 10 on the roller 11.

Under this arrangement, rotation of the roller 11 may result in rubbingoperation between the rubbing cloth 10 and the cloth section 232 of thecleaning cloth 23. The dirt 14 being removed from the rubbing cloth 10is collected in a dirt-collecting bag (not shown) via the nozzles 24. Ofcourse the first and second nozzles 24 a, 24 b are connected to asuction motor (not shown), which is activated synchronously with theroller 11 in order to suck up the dirt 14.

Means for moving the first mounting shaft 15A along the X direction isprovided so as to occasionally move the same with respect to the secondmounting shaft 15B after stoppage of the roller 11 once there is toomuch dirt powder on the first support member 21.

Referring to FIGS. 3D and 3E. In this preferred embodiment, the firstand the second fastening members 25, 26 are mounted respectively andsecurely on the first and second support members 21, 22 in order toretain the cloth section 232 (or the new cloth section 2321) between thefirst and second support members 21, 22 under tension. Each of the firstand the second fastening members 25, 26 is formed with an elongatedconcave recess to mate with the respective support members so as toprovide firm gripping force between an adjacent pair of the support andfastening members.

In the event, the cloth section 232 of the cleaning cloth 23 wears outor gets dirty due to the rubbing operation against the rubbing cloth 10after performing a period of time, the first and the second fasteningmembers 25, 26 are removed respectively from the first and the secondsupport members 21, 22 as best shown in FIG. 3E. The first supportmember 21 can be rotated in the arrow Y direction for a predeterminedangle (see FIG. 3E) so as to produce a new cloth section 2321. The newcloth section 2321 is held under tension as described in theabovementioned manner.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, a modified preferred embodiment of acleaning apparatus according to the present invention is shown to have astructure similar to the previous embodiment. The only differenceresides in that the cloth section of the cleaning cloth 23 is heldsecurely by the first and second fastening members 25, 26 withoutemployment of the first and second support members. However, each of thefirst and second fastening members 25, 26 includes a stationary piecemounted securely on a respective mounting shaft and a movable piecemovable relative to the stationary piece for securely holding arespective distal end of the cleaning cloth so as dispose the clothsection between the first and second fastening members 25, 26 undertension.

Some advantages provided by the cleaning apparatus of the presentinvention are as follows:

-   -   (i) Only a small amount of expense is required to construct the        present cleaning apparatus, since the roller 11 is already        exited in the LCD manufacturing line. Arrangement of the first        and second support members 21, 22 at upper and lower elevations        of the roller 11 will not need extra process. Hence, no large        expense is needed;    -   (ii) Since the dirt resulting from rubbing operation between the        rubbing cloth and the cloth section of the cleaning cloth are        directly and immediately collected by virtue of nozzles, the        ambient environment of the present cleaning apparatus is cleaned        and no environmental pollution would be caused; and    -   (iii) The cost of cleaning cloth is cheaper than that of the        glass substrate, thereby lowering the manufacturing cost of the        LCD system.

While the present invention has been described in connection with whatis considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

1. An apparatus for cleaning a rubbing cloth disposed on an outersurface of an alignment roller, and the apparatus comprising: a firstsupport member; a second support member disposed parallel to said firstsupport member and spaced apart from the first support member at apredetermined distance; a cleaning cloth disposed on and extendingbetween said first and second support members; a fastening member,wherein said first support member is between said fastening member andsaid second support member; a nozzle disposed adjacent to said firstsupport member for removing dirt resulting from a rubbing operationperformed between said cleaning cloth and said rubbing cloth; andwherein the first and the second support members are respectively turnedin clockwise and anticlockwise directions with a torque, and areretained stationarily thereat, and said cleaning cloth is held betweenthe first and second support members under tension force.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first support member is aroller.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising amounting shaft, wherein the first support member is slidably mounted onthe mounting shaft.